Gaming in the Garden - 2mm Napoleonic Battle Report

A quick 'pic update' today with some photos of our recent 2mm Napoleonic smash. We were using my modified set of Give Them The Cold Steel, tweaked for early nineteenth-century combat. A 4x4 board was used, this time with a gaming mat which was very convenient - watch this space for a review next week.

As usual, I'll let the pictures and captions do the talking rather than doing a full dissection. I played as the French, and Mike as the valiant Brits using 2mm Irregular Miniatures figures.

The gaming mat was from Game Mat EU - my favourite thing about it is
that you can easily make hills by putting books underneath the mat.

This is what I love about 2mm, you can make landscapes which look genuinely real and alive.

Nice to game in the garden - but once the wind picked up it didn't seem like such a good idea. Look out!
de Grouchy's column has just blown away! One disadvantage of 2mm figures I will admit to.

Deployment on the first day. I had my main force bottom left, with a cavalry force bottom right. Mike was ready to defend the river crossing top left (next to the mug), and his cavalry set up in column top centre.

And they're off! I rushed my cavalry across the river and managed to capture four guns (including with a brave charge into some canister fire), but then the British heavy brigade moved up and routed me. On the left you can see the defensive line Mike put on one of the few bridging points.

A very thick red line! With a screen of rifle-armed skirmishers to protect the crossing.

That unit he's touching there is just about to make an attack up the hill, where there is a battery of French guns and some cavalry. The attack doesn't go well, I charge downhill before they can form square then break off as they retreat... but that was just one of four brigades on the way to the top of the hill!

The units congregated towards the bottom left are the same as above, just after the first brigade rallied. You can see the remnants of my cavalry being finished off in the centre-right of the picture.

An overall shot, very busy: On the left, my attack is going in on the bridge. Closest to the camera you can see my reserves and defence of the crest of the hill. In the middle of the picture you can see the British rallied and made a more determined attack on the village, forcing me to pull my guns and cavalry back.

A very bloody mess as my attack closes in on the bridge.

My defence line on the ridge.

After one failed attack, the British finally capture the village at the top of the hill.

At this point we had to finish, but the next day we continued the battle (inside this time) as if night had fallen, and then the battle resumed the next day. Mike was going to assault my ridge, having thwarted my attempts to get across the river...

My French made a determined stand on the left - after the attack failed they held the woods and exacted a fearful toll on the redcoats as they move their pincers towards the hill. Ultimately, however, they were wiped out and half the division was captured!

I managed to scatter a few units but was totally wiped out in the bitter fighting which raged in the woods.

The other arm of the British attack takes some heavy fire from canister shot...

There my camera died, so there are no records of what happened. I can tell you that with all obsticles clear Mike snapped shut the trap and made a simultaneous attack up the hill - taking murderous fire, they lost nearly 50% of their strength but in the end their superior numbers won through (since I had wasted my cavalry on the first day) and they bagged most of the rest of the French division. Mon dieu!

An excellent game, really fun and very immersive. You really feel part of the terrain, since the battlefield is so large. Unlike larger scales where the action is very much confined by the edges of the board, here we had space to really manoeuvre. And not simple flank charges - I mean real manoeuvre, withdrawing and going two miles down the road to find a better bridge for your guns then coming up behind the enemy position. Something only possible in this scale.

Comments

If ever I visit(?!) I'd love to try some 2mm Napoleonic. Last week I read Cornwell's 'Waterloo': it's a gripping read, I must say. Very 'Cornwell' in its style, but a great look at the men, the armies and the battles involved.

Thank you, my dear Admiral. I need to get a copy, I don't actually know a huge amount about the battles around Waterloo and that sounds like a good overview. Would you recommend it as a starting point? For someone with a bit of general knowledge but nothing too detailed?